Science Fiction Though the Decades

Friday, May 9, 2014

1979: Catacomb Years (Bishop, Michael)

All cities are built on
voiceless narratives (5/5)

Buying Michael Bishop’s Catacomb
Years was a wise investment, albeit an impulse buy at the second-hand
bookstore. This is the only Bishop novel, or collection, I own. Originally, it
was going to stay stacked in my to-be-read pile for 3-4 years in the future
(hey, I have a lot of catching up to do in my library) but the alluring cover proved
too much… that and Joachim Boaz
manhandled me from 8,700 miles away into reading it for his collection of guest
posts on the work of Michael Bishop.

You’d be a dullard if you
weren’t initially struck by either the premise or the cover art: As history
barrels forward in a the manner of a drunkard, American cities like Atlanta
eventually cap themselves in domes under the idea of Preemptive Isolation, only
to suffer the pangs of dying from its onset of birth. Along with the novel A
Little Knowledge (1977), pristinely reviewed by Heloise
Merlin, these two books
complete Bishop’s Urban Nucleus series.

Rear cover synopsis:

“They were the great years. the
years after the U.S.A. was dissolved, after he domed cities were sealed, after
the aliens from 61 Cygni had arrived… before they had converted to
Christianity!

As rich and outrageous as
Faulkner crossed with Heinlein, Michael Bishop’s Future History of the Urban
Nucleus of Atlanta chronicles a New South of Near-Future people by born-again
aliens, jumpsuited glissadors, child-embodied immortals, Mall guys, fall guys
and two improbable lovers looking upward toward the stars. Its publication is
one of the major SF events of the decade.”

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Two things strike the reader
when they learn that Catacomb Years is a collection of stories about a city
under a dome: (1) The Why and (2) The How. As for the history WHY the domes
were constructed, the book contains (1) a 5-page dated chronology covering the
span of time of the stories and (2) a 4-page “Prelude: The Domes”. As for HOW…
well, like I said, you’d be a dolt if you didn’t think seven stories of a domed
city would be intriguing… but Bishop doesn’t play his fiddle for dolts; he has
smartly written humanistic stories of people in the city rather than of the inner
workings of the city-cum-Urban Nucleus called Atlanta, itself.

In writing humanistic stories,
Bishop takes the high path and ignores the common narratives of the elite
(affluent or influential), the powerful (administrators or politicians) or the
controversial (pop stars or prostitutes [same thing, right?]). Ignoring these
obvious narratives, Bishop instead hits upon the voiceless narratives of the
common man in uncommon events—the muted accounts, the unheard secret history of
the Urban Nucleus.

Each of these voiceless narratives
has consequential ripples in the remaining stories, much as one rock can
produce a lake-wide wave pattern. Though spanning generations, the momentum of
the city’s subcutaneous reality-in-the-flesh builds to form its own dome of
understanding around the Nucleus. With death, with suffering or with hope for
renewal, these panels of the city’s geodesic narrative dome frame the city
justly.

So, like Bishop’s exclusion of
using the horse and pony show to impress the reader, I’ll just say what’s
needed of the passing lives in Atlanta.

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If a Flower Could Eclipse
(1970, novelette) – 4/5 – Isolating himself in the corner of his classroom, the
precocious Emory Coleman secretively toils away on his drawings down in black,
his favorite color. Observing him through the glass are Fiona Bitler and Dr.
Greer, his teacher and the behavioral psychologist, respectively. Considering
Emory is the son of the man who assassinated Mz. Bitler’s husband, the
situation is odd even before the two disappear together. 29 pages

Here, three individuals struggle to cope with
the expectations of their respective role: Emory should be social and obedient yet
his nature is reclusive and condescending; Fiona Bitler and Dr. Greer should
both be objective in their study of young Emory, but personal needs blur the
distinction between professional interests and emotional interests.

Old Folks at Home (1978,
novella) – 4/5 – Zoe Breedlove’s own daughter volunteers her for a
gerontological study. Though initially dismayed at her unsympathetic attitude
toward her own mother, the Geriatric Hostel offers more than Zoe had dared
hope. Adopted by, but not yet married into, the Phoenix septigamoklan (an
elderly marriage grouping of seven), Zoe spends days and years among her kind
in interests, kinship, and love. 49 pages

Unlike an assisted care facility or whatever
you want to call a prison for the elderly, the Geriatric Hostel’s program doesn’t
simply doll out the meds and swap bedpans every so often. In the septigamoklan,
similar to a group of responsible children left on their own, they form a bond
amongst themselves and even indulge in eccentricities for the intrinsic need
for happiness.

The Window’s in Dante’s Hell
(1973, shortstory) – 4/5 – Dead bodies in the urban Nucleus are better left to
the unemotional servo-units, in which they simply dispose of the body into the
city’s Level 9 recycler. An elderly body’s death stirs up curiosity and
morbidity in the city’s Biomonitor Agency, resulting in Ardry and his boss’s
son descending the levels to see the dead body. Rather than shock, they
experience interest and sadness in the woman’s obsession with an old sci-fi TV
series. 17 pages

Ignoring death is to be scared of our shared
finality, the one common trait that makes us human: we live, we die. When Ardry
and Newlyn come upon the dead woman’s home, the presence of her corpse isn’t as
haunting as the elaborate mockup of a starship bridge—an eerie reminder than
the death of history walks as a zombie in the minds of others.

The Samurai and the Willows
(1976, novella) – 5/5 – Inhabiting Level 9 by trade and inhabiting the same
level by choice, Georgia Cawthorn and Simon Fowler, respectively, share a room
but not much else: He, a lithe Japanese figure with a fixation on samurai
philosophy and bonsai pruning; she, an Amazonian glissaor of crass approach. Their
physical proximity develops into a mutual interest and eventual, though slowly
evolving, emotional interest of opposites attract. 45 pages

Impassioned by the art of patience and
sacrifice, Simon writes of his daily philosophical struggles and toils selflessly
with his bonsai trees. Perhaps the extrinsic looks of nobleness endear him to
his toiling, but it’s his internal friction which catches him by surprise. When
he sacrifices his vanity for a want, his hesitation is a blow to his esteem, so
he must sacrifice one last thing.

Allegiances (1975, novella) –
4/5 – Contrary to popular belief under the dome of Atlanta, life still exists
and even thrives in the Open. Newlyn Yates, now of the Biomonitor Agency with
extended powers, enlists Clio Noble and a Native American, with the alias of
Alexander Guest, to emerge from the Nucleus in order to procure two individuals
of repute: Emory Coleman and Fiona Bitler. Having been in the open for some
thirty years, they have privileged knowledge. 49 pages

Unbeknownst to most in the Urban Nucleus, the
world beyond the Dome –itself a shield of ignorance—is fit for life. Once, the
expansive roadways of Georgia served automobiles but in the year 2071, these
same concrete arteries are chocked with verdant brush—an additional veil of
ignorance keeping the domed citizens from knowing the truth about the US, Earth,
and aliens.

At the Dixie-Apple with the
Shoofly-Pie kid (1977, shortstory) – 5/5 – Julian had always been fascinated by
the idea of aliens and so he wrote stories about them. When he learned that
they really do exist, he wrote a story based on what he knew of the aliens and
the Urban Nucleus: The Dixie-Apple Autumn Savings Sale is a draw enough for
most, but the lone alien exhibition causes curiosity to soar, including Cullen,
Bayangumay and her kids, one of which is about to run wild through the orderly
store. 16 pages

This metafictional morsel allows Bishop to betray
his assumed ambition—common man in uncommon events. The Autumn Savings Sale is
a significant event for the commoner, but the relevance of the store’s rigid of
aisle-passing rules and lax pricing system is insight into the more common
inconveniences of Atlanta’s citizens and commentary on our own seasonal shopping
habits.

Death Rehearsals (1979,
novella) – 5/5 – Julian and his priestess wife live only doors down from the
room where two dying aliens lay side-by-side. He is charged with their
care—observing the two-year drawn out swansong in their cold tomb-to-be.
Meanwhile, a poetic flyer penned by Leland Tanner stirs his soul; he offers the
romantic aging man a place in his home and lands him a position at the
Geriatric Hostel, where Leland finds work, love and too much truth. 69 pages

Leland Tanner (the same chief scientists from
“Old Folks at Home”) is now, himself, an elderly man in need of similar company.
To express his sorrow, he illegally prints a sheet of poems and, in doing so,
meets the current director of the Geriatric Hostel, who he hopes to woo.
Disappointingly, his only recourse for companionship are the dying aliens down
the hall. Though he seeks personal closure, a more significant closure looms
over all.